NED Abstract

Copyright by American Astronomical Society.
Reproduced by permission
2012ApJ...752..101F
Linking Type Ia Supernova Progenitors and Their Resulting Explosions
Foley, Ryan J.; Simon, Joshua D.; Burns, Christopher R.; Gal-Yam, Avishay;
Hamuy, Mario; Kirshner, Robert P.; Morrell, Nidia I.; Phillips, Mark M.;
Shields, Gregory A.; Sternberg, Assaf
Abstract. Comparing the ejecta velocities at maximum brightness and
narrow circumstellar/interstellar Na D absorption line profiles of a
sample of 23 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), we determine that the properties
of SN Ia progenitor systems and explosions are intimately connected. As
demonstrated by Sternberg et al., half of all SNe Ia with detectable Na D
absorption at the host-galaxy redshift in high-resolution spectroscopy
have Na D line profiles with significant blueshifted absorption relative
to the strongest absorption component, which indicates that a large
fraction of SN Ia progenitor systems have strong outflows. In this study,
we find that SNe Ia with blueshifted circumstellar/interstellar absorption
systematically have higher ejecta velocities and redder colors at maximum
brightness relative to the rest of the SN Ia population. This result is
robust at a 98.9%-99.8% confidence level, providing the first link between
the progenitor systems and properties of the explosion. This finding is
further evidence that the outflow scenario is the correct interpretation
of the blueshifted Na D absorption, adding additional confirmation that
some SNe Ia are produced from a single-degenerate progenitor channel. An
additional implication is that either SN Ia progenitor systems have highly
asymmetric outflows that are also aligned with the SN explosion or SNe Ia
come from a variety of progenitor systems where SNe Ia from systems with
strong outflows tend to have more kinetic energy per unit mass than those
from systems with weak or no outflows.
Key words: distance scale, dust, extinction, supernovae: general